1948 realized a dream: a Jewish state. But creation led to catastrophe - over 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes, never to return.

The year 1948 saw the establishment of the state of Israel, the culmination of generations of Jewish persecution across Europe and Russia. But that same year proved catastrophic for the Palestinians - 700,000 to 900,000 men, women and children were forced to leave their homes and never allowed to return. This was the most pivotal year in the most controversial conflict in the world, but it is almost never mentioned on American television, radio, or newspaper stories. This is your opportunity to change that.

In working on this project, we have traveled to Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the US and the UK. We have interviewed dozens of Israelis and Palestinians who experienced 1948 first-hand: militia fighters, civilians, people who were forced to flee their homes, and those who made sure the refugees would never return. These are stories that deserve to be told. Right now, you can give these people the opportunity to tell their story to a Western audience – something that they have been largely denied for their entire lives.

[IMG]smileys/smiley25.gif" align="absmiddle" alt="Question" />It is so convenient to overlook the fact that the palestinians would not have lost their homes had not the Arabs declared a war against the new state.I will be interested to see the finished project.

Huh who created war??????you better get your facts right or you heading for some real hard hitting facts which you do not have a clue as to what happened in 1948.
Ismail

It is so convenient to overlook the fact that the palestinians would not have lost their homes had not the Arabs declared a war against the new state.I will be interested to see the finished project.

Also, the Palestinians who remained in Israel during the 1948 war have full citizenship. Currently, around 21% of Israeli citizens are of Arab ancestry, and many thousand more Arabs who live in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are eligible for Israeli citizenship, if they want it, but they instead choose to live as "permanent residents".

[IMG]smileys/smiley25.gif" align="absmiddle" alt="Question" />It is so convenient to overlook the fact that the palestinians would not have lost their homes had not the Arabs declared a war against the new state.I will be interested to see the finished project.

Huh who created war??????you better get your facts right or you heading for some real hard hitting facts which you do not have a clue as to what happened in 1948.
Ismail

What can you expect from such people? Facts don't matter to them.

About the 1948 war, scholar Noam Chomsky clears up the myths that people like "Caringheart" peddle:

"Syria in 1949 offered a full
peace treaty to Israel, which Israel rejected. There are good
indications that the Arab states did not want to go to war in May
1948. Nahum Goldmann was opposed to declaring the state, and his
reason was not that he was against a Jewish state. You see, the state
was actually declared prior to the time when the Partition
Recommendation proposed it. It was advanced. Goldmann's proposal was
that they should hold off, and he always held throughout his entire
life that, had he done that, they would have avoided war. Flapan tries
to explore that in his book. His own conception is that Goldmann knew
that the Arab states would accept a proposal if it was worked out
properly, and he thought they should have explored that path. But Ben
Gurion and other leaders were pretty confident. They thought they
would be able to grab some land. There was a period of about 10 days
from about May 14 to May 24 when it was touch and go; it wasn't at all
clear how it was going to work out. But aside from that 10-day period,
there was no doubt who was going to win." (http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/198805--.htm)

And according to the group "Jews for Justice in the Middle East":

"“Arab rejection was...based on the fact that, while the population of
the Jewish state was to be [only half] Jewish with the Jews owning less
than 10% of the Jewish state land area, the Jews were to be established
as the ruling body — a settlement which no self-respecting people would
accept without protest, to say the least...The action of the United
Nations conflicted with the basic principles for which the world
organization was established, namely, to uphold the right of all peoples
to self-determination. By denying the Palestine Arabs, who formed the
two-thirds majority of the country, the right to decide for themselves,
the United Nations had violated its own charter.”" (http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html)

These are the facts, which people like "caringheart" seem to be unaware of or deliberately hide. They hypocritically preach "love and peace" yet make excuses for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Even if the Arabs had started the 1948 war, how does that justify the massacres that occurred at the hands of Zionist militias like the Irgun terrorists? How does that excuse ethnically cleansing the Arab population?

Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds. (Surat al-Anaam: 162)

If the Jews are guilty of ethnic cleansing, then why is it that over 20% of Israeli citizens are Arab Muslims?

Textbook Hasbara. Arabs are "Israeli citizens" as much as blacks were American citizens in the post-reconstruction south, notwithstanding the fact that ethnic cleansing/mass murder, has nothing to do with Israeli Arabs. In other words, to say ethnic cleansing could not have taken place because there are Arabs with "Israeli citizenship" isn't intellectually honest. And frankly speaking when it comes to the State of Israel the default for even fair-minded people is to make excuses and equivocate.

islamispeace wrote: How does that excuse ethnically cleansing the Arab population?

What ethnic cleansing???

If the Jews are guilty of ethnic cleansing, then why is it that over 20% of Israeli citizens are Arab Muslims?

Um, Arabs were the majority before the founding of Israel. Now they are a minority. That's not ethnic cleansing?

What do you think the expulsion of 750,000 people is? What do you think the massacres and rapes that occurred at the hands of the Zionist terrorists was? Ever hear of Deir Yassin?

As Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has written, Zionists leaders launched a well-planned operation to drive out many Arabs out as possible:

"Once the plan was finalized, it took six months to complete the mission.

When it was over, more than half of Palestine’s native population, over 750,000 people, had been uprooted, 531 villages had been destroyed, and 11 urban neighborhoods had been emptied of their inhabitants. The plan decided upon on 10 March 1948, and above all its systematic implementation in the following months, was a clear case of what is now known as an ethnic cleansing operation." (http://palestine-studies.org/enakba/exodus/Pappe,%20The%20Ethnic%20Cleansing%20of%20Palestine.pdf)

This is called ethnic cleansing. You can try to hide the facts all you want.

People who deny that the Holocaust occurred are rightfully ridiculed as ignorant nut-jobs. I assume you know where I am going with this.

Edited by islamispeace - 26 February 2014 at 7:00pm

Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds. (Surat al-Anaam: 162)

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